PIPA vote delayed by Senate majority leader

The leader of the majority in the US Senate, Senator Harry Reid, has decided to delay the vote on the PIPA bill.

PIPA and its counterpart from the House of Representatives, SOPA, are designed to help reduce online piracy by giving copyright holders and the US government the power to block access to sites that host pirated content.The problem with both pieces of legislation is that they are too broad and hand too much power over with the potential that perfectly innocent sites, like games sites that capture their own screenshots or YouTube users that create speed run and walkthrough videos could also be blocked without usual due process hurting gaming communities and severely limiting free speech, a cherished ideal in the US constitution.

The outcry has been so great that supporters of both SOPA and PIPA have been withdrawing their support with PIPA losing 13 supporters including several co-sponsors of the bill.

Senator Reid announced that the vote on the PIPA bill will be delayed. In a statement he elaborated: "There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices... I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans' intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the internet."